Putting device

ABSTRACT

A putting device that includes a target, legs and bumpers. The target is a sheet of clear material which has a target pattern applied to the sheet. The sheet has a front edge, rear edge, and right side edge and a left side edge, all of which forms an outside edge of the sheet. The sheet includes a top face and a bottom face defined by the outside edge. The target pattern can be a series of concentric circles. There is a rear leg and two side legs to hold the sheet above floor level. A groove is cut into each leg to allow the outside edge of the sheet to fit firmly into the groove of each leg. There is a rear bumper and two side bumpers. The rear bumper is mounted to the rear leg and the side bumpers are mounted to the side legs.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

[0001] The present invention generally relates to indoor games. Morespecifically, the present invention relates to a golf putting devicewith additional features to improve putting skills and to makepracticing putting more interesting by turning it into a game.

[0002] When a golfer cannot attend a golf course, the golfer will oftenpractice on a floor surface within the golfer's home. There are manyputting practice devices on the market to practice putting a golf ballinto a hole. Many of these devices include a ramp to a hole or targetarea. Others include a hole in a thick putting surface pad or a circledarea outlined on a mat type surface area. Most of the putting devicesare simply designed to have the user putt to a target without any otherparticular challenge or entertainment value to the user. The lack of anentertaining challenge when putting can lead to boredom of the puttingdevice, and hence less use of the putting device. It would be animprovement to have a putting device that provided some sort of gamingchallenge to the user or users, in order to retain the user's interestin using the putting device. Retaining the interest of the user byincreasing the entertainment value allows the user to practice more andimprove the user's skill level of the art of putting.

[0003] It is an object of the present invention to provide puttingdevice which provides a gaming atmosphere during the use of the puttingdevice to retain the interest of the user of the putting device.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

[0004] A putting device that includes a target, legs and bumpers. Thetarget is a sheet of clear material which has a target pattern appliedto the sheet. The sheet has a front edge, rear edge, and right side edgeand a left side edge, all of which forms an outside edge of the sheet.The sheet includes a top face and a bottom face defined by the outsideedge. The target pattern can be a series of concentric circles. There isa rear leg and two side legs to hold the sheet above floor level. Agroove is cut into each leg to allow the outside edge of the sheet tofit firmly into the groove of each leg. There is a rear bumper and twoside bumpers. The rear bumper is mounted to the rear leg and the sidebumpers are mounted to the side legs.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0005]FIG. 1 is a top view of a putting device according to the presentinvention;

[0006]FIG. 2 is a front view of a putting device according to thepresent invention;

[0007]FIG. 3 is a side view of a putting device according to the presentinvention; and

[0008]FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a leg according to the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0009] The present invention is a putting device 10. The putting device10 includes a target, legs and bumpers, as shown in FIGS. 1-4. As shown,the target 12 is a rectangular sheet 14 of clear material which has atarget pattern 16 applied to the sheet 14. As shown in FIG. 1, the sheet14 has a front edge 18, rear edge 20, and right side edge 22 and a leftside edge 24. The front, rear right side and left side edges 18, 20, 22,24 form the outside edge of the rectangular shape of the sheet 14. Thesheet 14 includes a top face 26 and a bottom face 28 defined by theoutside edge. The target pattern 16 is shown as concentric circles 30applied to the sheet 14. The concentric circles 30 can be applied toeither the top face 26 or the bottom face 28 of the sheet 14. The innermost circle 30 is about a two inch in diameter and the circles 30 aboutthe inside circle 30 increase in diameter about two inches for eachcircle 30. Whereby, the outermost circle 30 is about twelve inches indiameter. Three legs are shown to hold the sheet 14 above floor level.There is a rear leg 32 and two side legs 34. FIG. 4 shows that each leg32, 34 has a top 36, a bottom 38 and a groove 40 near the top 36 of eachleg 32, 34. The groove 40 is cut into each leg 32, 34 to allow theoutside edge of the sheet 14 to fit firmly into the groove 40. The rearleg 32 is positioned on the middle of the rear edge 20. The side legs 34are positioned on the right side and left side edges 22, 24 near thefront edge 18. The groove 40 of the rear and side legs 32, 34 providesfor quick assembly and disassembly of the putting device 10. There arethree bumpers shown in FIGS. 1-3. The three bumpers include a rearbumper 42 and two side bumpers 44. The rear bumper 42 is mounted to therear leg 32 below the sheet 14 using any type of appropriate fastener.The rear bumper 42 includes two ends 46. The rear bumper 42 is shown asa doubled angled bumper which is formed such that the ends 46 aredefected rearwards from the rear leg 32 along the center of the rearbumper 42. The double angle bumper in effect creates a two faced bumper.The side bumpers 44 are shown mounted to the side legs 34 using any typeof appropriate fastener. The side bumpers 44 are attached to the sidelegs 34 such that the side bumpers 44 angle rearward towards the rearleg 32.

[0010] The preferred materials and sizes of the components for theputting device 10 are as follows. The rear and side legs 32, 34 would bewood or plastic. The sheet 14 would be clear Plexiglas. The sheet 14being of a clear material allows the user to view the golf ball underthe target pattern 16 to determine how close the golf ball is to thecenter of the target pattern 16 for easy scoring. The sheet 14 sizeshould be about sixteen inches along the front and rear edges 18, 20 andabout thirteen and a half inches along the right and left side edges 22,24. The bottom face 28 of the sheet 14 should be about five inches offthe surface of the floor to allow a golf ball to roll under the sheet14. Therefore, the height of the legs 32, 34 should be more then fiveinches to accommodate the groove 40 to receive the sheet 14. The bumpers42, 44 are preferably made of a polished flexible metal about fourinches wide and three inches high. The side bumpers 44 are used toredirect the ball under the target pattern 16, if there is another golfball blocking a direct line of shot to the target pattern 16. The angleof the side bumpers 44 can be anywhere from one degree to less thanninety degrees from the front edge 18 of the sheet 14. The bumpers 42,44 are somewhat flexible so that the golf ball rebounds off the bumpers42, 44. A good material to use to make the bumpers 42, 44 is tin.Another feature of the bumpers 42, 44 is that the bumpers 42, 44 can bemade from a material that produces a sound when hit by the golf ball.Again, tin is a good material to produce a sound when hit by the golfball. When the golf ball hits the middle of the bumpers 42, 44, the golfball will make a lower octave sound, than when the golf ball hits theoutside portion of the bumpers 42, 44. This allows the user to identifywhere the golf ball hits one of the bumpers 42, 44 without actuallyseeing the golf ball hit one of the bumpers 42, 44.

[0011] Examples of accuracy/target games that can be played with theputting device are games using rules similar to curling or darts. Theobject being that the users are trying to position their golf ball theclosest to a chosen point on the target pattern. Also, different targetpatterns than the one shown in FIG. 1 can be employed to allow playingof different games. The target pattern could be removable, allowing theinterchanging of different target patterns on the sheet. The users canuse their golf ball to block an opponents shot similar to billiards,forcing the next user to employ the side bumpers to get around the golfball that is blocking the next user's shot. The rear bumper makes theputting device multi-purpose. When not playing the accuracy/targetgames, a user may use the putting device for practicing putting skills.In putting a golf ball, it is desirable to impart such velocity that ifone misses the target, the ball still remains within a short distance ofthe center of the target. In this fashion, if one misses the first shot,the second is a relatively short distance. By putting at the puttingdevice, one can develop the correct velocity to impart to the golf ballwhen putting the golf ball. The sound of the golf ball hitting the rearbumper will be louder indicating a ball being severely overshot, asopposed to a golf ball being played softly. The changing pitch of therear bumper will tell the user whether they were on or off center of thetarget. The rear bumper is angled to deflect the golf ball from centerto allow the user multiple shots, without the previous golf ballsgetting in the way. This also develops the good habit of keeping theuser's head down after completing a putting swing. The user does nothave to lift the user's head to see the results, once familiar with thesounds of the bumpers. As discussed above, it is envisioned that aremoval target pattern could be applied to the sheet. Thus, allowing theuse of different target patterns. The scope of the invention is notlimited by rectangular shape shown for the sheet. Also, more than threelegs could be used to provide improved stability of the putting device.

[0012] While different embodiments of the invention have been describedin detail herein, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the artthat various modifications and alternatives to the embodiments could bedeveloped in light of the overall teachings of the disclosure.Accordingly, the particular arrangements are illustrative only and arenot limiting as to the scope of the invention that is to be given thefull breadth of any and all equivalents thereof.

1. A putting device, comprising: at least three legs to rest above asurface; and a target mounted to said at least three legs, said targetresting above said surface such that an object may be moved under saidtarget without contacting said target, and said target having a front,rear, right side, and left side.
 2. The putting device of claim 1,wherein said target is a clear sheet of material; and wherein saidtarget includes an edge about said target which forms said front, rearright side and left side.
 3. The putting device of claim 2, wherein saidtarget includes a target pattern applied to said sheet.
 4. The puttingdevice of claim 3, wherein said target pattern is removable.
 5. Theputting device of claim 1, further including at least two side bumpersmounted under said target near said front of said target.
 6. The puttingdevice of claim 5, wherein said at least two side bumpers are made froma flexible material.
 7. The putting device of claim 5, wherein said atleast two side bumpers are made from a material which produces a soundwhen hit by said object.
 8. The putting device of claim 2, wherein saidat least three legs include a top and bottom; and wherein said at leastthree legs include a groove to receive said an edge of said sheet. 9.The putting device of claim 8, further including at least two sidebumpers mounted under said target near said front of said target. 10.The putting device of claim 1, further including a rear bumper mountedunder said target near said rear of said target.
 11. The putting deviceof claim 10, wherein said at rear bumper is made from a flexiblematerial.
 12. The putting device of claim 10, wherein said rear bumperis made from a material which produces a sound when hit by said object.13. The putting device of claim 10, wherein said rear bumper is bent ata center of said rear bumper to form two angled faces emanating fromsaid center of said rear bumper.
 14. The putting device of claim 5,further including a rear bumper mounted under said target near said rearof said target.
 15. The putting device of claim 2, further including atleast two side bumpers mounted under said target near said front of saidtarget; further including a rear bumper mounted under said target nearsaid rear of said target; wherein said at least three legs include a topand bottom; and wherein said at least three legs include a groove toreceive said an edge of said sheet.
 16. The putting device of claim 15,wherein said target includes a target pattern applied to said sheet. 17.The putting device of claim 16, wherein said target pattern isremovable.
 18. The putting device of claim 15, wherein a first of saidat least three legs is mounted to said edge at said rear of said sheet;wherein a second of said at least three legs is mounted to said edge atsaid right side of said sheet; wherein a third of said at least threelegs is mounted to said edge at said left side of said sheet; whereinsaid rear bumper is mounted to said first leg; wherein a first of saidside bumpers is mounted to said second leg; wherein a second of saidside bumpers is mounted to said third leg;
 19. The putting device ofclaim 18, wherein said target includes a target pattern applied to saidsheet.
 20. The putting device of claim 1 9, wherein said target patternis removable.